Oops, the caption for the windmill palm should have read "The windmill palm is not the largest in the area but is one of the oldest; it has about 8 feet of trunk and gets no winter protection (but is growing in a sheltered location):

It looks like he has a great Needle palm there as well. Very Very nice!

Beautiful garden. I hope mine will look that good one day. Thanks for posting.

Good stuff !
Beautiful sabal minor .

What zone is your friend in? Has he kept track of minimum temps in his garden over the winter?

Alexandria VA is an extreme northern zone 7.

AWESOME suptropical garden! THere used to be a 15' tall Trachy at the Mobil station on Stevenson, but I think they incorrectly wrapped it 2 years ago, and it rotted the spear. It was there for about 6 years or so. It was in an open and exposed area.

If you dont mind PMing me, Id love to know where that garden is! I live in Old Town Alexandria in Del Ray, and would love to see that! There is another very tropical yard here in my neighborhoot, that has a few palms, and MANY MANY LARGE Banannas.

Actually, most of Alexandria from King Street inward towards downtown Washington, including down town DC, is a very northern zone 8.

I clipped these from a USDA Zone Map. Note the zone 8 colouration which covers about 1/2 of the inner most sections of Alexandria (closest to the river and downtown Washington DC) Were tempered by the river, espeically down where I am on the flood plain, as well as being a fairly large city that butts directly up against a VERY large city in DC. In the past 5 years or so, it really doesnt go below freezing much in many sections of Alexandria / DC along the river. I have had many tender annuals, that would normally die, start surviving through the winter in the last 5-7 years, espeically with southern exosures.

On the map, Alexandria is at the bottom of the zone 8 coloration, its borders kind of make it shaped like, well, a butt, or a bust. The zone 8 coloration splits Alexandria just about down the middle.

Very nice, I live in Richmond and have 4 windmills out front that I hope will look like that one day.

2 questions:

-- How many years has the Windmill been in the ground to get that size?
-- Will the Musa basjoo survive in the ground. I have 2 that I brought in last year, uncertain whether to put them in the ground

Any advice is appreciated...

I can't answer you about the Windmill's, but I can tell you that I have not yet seen a Bananna of any variety, survive a winter in the D.C. Area, outdoors. I think they are just too "Tropical". Mine have survied down to the 40's outside, but much below that, and they start to rot. Mine was protected from frost by nearby trees which probably went along way to helping it survive to such a late part of the season. Once the temps finally dropped to blow about 40f, it started to really have trouble, and the leaves turned to jelly around 35F.

I would think that you being in Richmond, would have the same results. I would not recommend leaving Bananna's outdoors, if you want them to live through the winter months. Personally, Im going to take off a couple of the "PUP" of the one I have this year ( its in a pot and I didnt plant it until mid june, so its still only about 5' tall) pot them up, and keep them inside until may.

Hi novaplantguy. Just for my information what USDA zone map did you use? It seems there are so many different or conflicting maps. I have a bad case of zone denial myself and tend to believe the maps that put me in zone 7. Knowing that I have this horrible disease (Zone Denial) I've learned to accept that I'm probablly more an average of a 6a-6b considering the low of -4 last winter. So I dont know what to believe, the maps or the temperature. Sorry for rambling.

Josh

Hey Josh,

Well, I dont honestly remember. I looked up the map on google last spring, and I pulled up about 7 different maps. I saved images of my area (DC METRO area) and a couple of them have the same zone 8 circles around the downtown areas of DC and Baltimore, while the others have my area as a very warm zone 7. Do a google search and see what comes up. Im sure you will find plenty of variation, but nothing really wild.

I tend to belive the map I posted more, because the minimum winter temps here have been more consistent with what the warmer maps would inticate, and I have personally experienced things that I thought for sure would die off in the winter, survive just fine. The area in DC/Northern VA that is marked as zone 8 on that map, is largely flat, costal/ flood plain. There are a few large hills just immediately to the north and west, that are 4-600 feet up. I would venture a guess the tops of those hills are much more zone 7, while down here on the flood plains, its quite a bit warmer.

I think in our area, if you have a protected location, especially one with lots of sun / southern exposures, a zone 8 is definately possible. Were also tempered by the Potomac River, and Chesapeake bay, neither of which have frozen over in years, and that helps moderate temps in the local area. 50 miles to the West of DC, very different story/ climate. Its genearlly a cooler zone 7, and with any elevation, drops to zone 6, and even zone 5 on some of the peaks over 2,500 feet.

Not sure that of that helps you. Sorry about that! LOL! Basically, I use what seems to the best guess based on both the maps, and what I personally experience with winter temps and growth/ survival.

Novaplantguy, since this is not my own garden I'm a bit reluctant to give out the address. My friend actually lives between Alexandria & Mt. Vernon, just off the GW Parkway. He apparently has a great microclimate, probabably because there are houses on all side, plus he's close to the river.

That zone map showing a bit of zone 8 in DC (and Baltimore!) was the draft of the new USDA zone map that came out to much criticism a couple of years ago. It has been withdrawn and who knows when it will be updated. But DC and northern Virginia seem to be pretty solidly zone 7 (at least since the early 1990's), and the urban heat islands probably do approach zone 8 for a fairly small downtown area. Having large bodies of water nearby also helps DC & Baltimore immensely--the Potomac River for the former and the harbor for the latter.

BTW Musa basjoo is fully hardy in our area! My friend and I, as well as other people we know in the area, have had this species survive in our gardens for several years. With just a bit of protection it behaves as a perennial, dying to the ground and resprouting in the spring. Some people wrap or otherwise protect the pseudostems over the winter to get a head start the following year, but I just use compost, autumn leaves and just about anything I cut down in my garden in the fall and pile it up over and around the stems. It dies to the ground but it's amazing how much growth they can put out in one growing season.

Hey novaplantguy. Thanks for that. I wish I still lived where I grew up in Woodbridge/Dale City. You're probablly quite familiar with that area. My brother lives in Stafford and is a police officer in Arlington which your probablly very familiar with. Hmm, small world. I'm only 75 miles from where you live in Chambersburg PA. If it were'nt for the mountains just past Frederick I would definatley be a solid zone 7.

Josh

JohnnieB: Thanks for clearing up that USDA Zone map question. I looked at so many different ones I just couldnt remember which ones were which ones. LOL! Yeah, I think we are definately part of the "Urban Heat Island) here in Old Town Alexandria. As I mentioned, and you pointed out as well, being close to the river really helps. I am about 8 city blocks from the river myself, and were down just a couple feet above mean sea level here as well, so combine that, with dense population, buildings, and the urban heat island, and I too agree that we lean more a zone 8 in many areas within the heat island. I am fairly certain that the microclimates in our area here, are very strong zone 8s as well. I know the back of my building ( my apartment faces mostly south and west, with one east facing window) is very protected and gets FULL SUN, ALL DAY, ALL YEAR. I think I am going to conduct a temperature expriment over the winter, to see just how much of a micro climate we have back here.

I didnt know about the Musa Basoo's surving like perennials either. Perhaps because I made no attempts to protect mine in any way is why it never came back. I guess Not enough people close by grow them, and I just assumed that most people replaced them yearly. Unfortunately I do not have my own private yard, so I have to grow mine in large pots outdoors.

Johsh: Yep, I am very familliar with those areas. I was born and raised in DC, and have lived here my entire life, the past 10 years of it in Alexandria VA. Very small world in deed!

I used to have a friend who was a DJ at an "adult contemporary" radio station up there in Chambersburg too! LOL!

I would say we in eastern Loudoun County are a cold Zone 7a, not Alexandria or those below the Fall Line. Those areas are virtually a Zone 8a most years and a solid 7b over all. The river and the urban heat make a real difference all year long.